Friday, 13 March 2015

So, after the feels trip that was Digimon Tamers, its not surprising that the next season would be more on the chearful side. Unlike its even predecessor and more like its actual predecessor, Frontier is once again, a reboot (which actually makes more sense seeing as this is a Digital World). A brand new Digital World, new Digi destined and the concept of Spirit evolution, it's true what they say, the past can come back to haunt you: Digimon Frontier.

So once again, an evil Digimon that changes depending on who's code is still intact is causing chaos, only this time its plan is to destroy the planet itself chunk by digital chunk. To stop this menace, 5-6 children are brought into the Digital World, each to discover a human and beast spirit and use them to defeat all the evil Digimon and restore balance to the world... that's it. There's no jumping between worlds, there's no villains who are the heroes, there's nothing to complicate the story. Its "This Digimon is evil, stop him". And after the emotional and moral roller coaster that was Tamers, I like this change. To some, this may seem like a downgrade, which it is, I'm not going to deny that. But it means that the show can still be enjoyed by all. Frontier is a lighthearted series compared to Tamers, the characters often make jokes and behave like kids would in this series, in comparison to Tamers where they had to mature beyond their years.

I don't care if people say it's childish, I love it when I see characters be this expressive in cartoons and anime

On the subject of characters, I both love and hate these Digi destined. While I think they work well in the story, they're token characters I've sen before. You've got the hot head leader (BIONICLE not helping deal with this) in the form of Takuya, Koji being the token lone wolf, Zoe who's Snow White with a personality, JP who can somehow be both wise, dumb and a joke at the same time, Tommy who's the token young kid and Koichi who... lets just say he's a first for something that's spoiler territory. One thing that I'll at least give credit for, each of these characters do develop throughout the story and do carry the story, so tropes or not, I'll let it slide.

"You weren't even wearing mascara, how is it running?" would be the question I ask after "Why is there Digimon mascara to begin with?

One thing that I haven't brought attention to is the voice acting, for one in articular reason. While I have liked the voice acting as a whole throughout the entire franchise, one thing that becomes especially obvious is that they love to reuse voice actors. Throughout the franchise, you may be able to, if you're paying close attention, find character voices you may recognise like Tai, Mimi, Takato, Ken, Gomamon, Tentomon, Kenta and more. Frontier is also filled with nods to Adventure, 02 and Tamers, with several familiar faces appearing in some form... to such a extent that I'm willing to bet almost every Digimon that has appeared in Adventure, 02 and Tamers makes an appearance in some form (including prior and later Digivolutions) in the show's duration, which I do appreciate.

I don't know why, but this is screaming for the overused Duke Nukem joke

I hope you weren't attached to the Intro theme of Adventure, 02 and Tamers, because at time of writing, you're not going to be hearing it again as a intro for a new anime series. This theme however, A World for Us All, has been used before. The intro theme for Revenge of Diaboromon, Battle of Adventurers and Runaway Locomon also use it, along with the new Digivolution theme. Both of which I love. They have a tribal theme to them which I think works well for the series, should they be used in all future series? No, but for here, they work perfectly.

Anyone for a Wacky Race?

Frontier isn't for everyone, I know people who have stopped watching it because of its biggest problem, the slow start. But like with other stories, Frontier does get better if you give it a chance. After a dark story, its always a good idea to experience something more cheerful. Up next: Sadly I've got to cut the marathon short (which is why this was delayed to today), next Monday is Digimon Data Squad.